Young Adult Author

Doing

When I got my first personal computer in 2001 (a high school graduation gift), my favorite thing to do was change the background image. I really liked the idea that a simple picture could change the entire look of a screen.

Since then, I changed my background rather routinely. That is, until March 2010. Around that time I discovered Smashing Magazine’s desktop wallpaper calendars. For three months, starting in January, changed my background to one of the site’s beautiful calendar images. I loved them. But, again, I stopped in March 2010.

That month, I found a background that just seemed…perfect. A simple tan background, it had the quote…

Are you doing all you can to become the person you want to be?

At the time I was trying to write a book. I was starting and stopping and starting and stopping and nothing felt right. So I kept the background to push myself forward, to give myself the inspiration to keep going. Keep writing. Because that was who I wanted to be…a writer. (And, as it turned out, a librarian. But more on that later.)

You all know the ending of that story. I didn’t become a major author that year, but I did finish a book a year and a half later and today I have an agent. It’s lovely, really.

So yesterday, looking at my desktop background, I considered changing it. Why would I need something to push me to write? I do it easily now. I became what I wanted to be.

But to me? That’s not enough. I want to keep going, keep pushing, keep being. I want to remind myself to keep trying no matter how tough it gets. Because I want to continue doing all that I can. Because it’s not always easy, but man is it rewarding.

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4 thoughts on “Doing”

Hmm, maybe I should look into getting that background image. I want to finish–and by “finish” I mean edit to near perfection–my novel and become a published novelist. But that life plan is on hold until I finish the deadline on my pictorial history book. I’m looking forward to that step in-between, though! I won’t be a published novelist, but I will be a published author :] To get there, I’m researching and reading and emailing people like crazy!

It is amazing and I am really excited, but I guess my book doesn’t quite feel “real.” It’s going to have 180 pictures and only 12,000 words that I actually wrote. It’s awesome and official and I’ll be proud of the book when it’s done…but in comparison I just feel like I don’t quite have the right to mingle with all the “big kids” who have written a cohesive 50,000-word-plus novel of all their own thoughts. I guess my thought process is that I’ll just feel more accomplished when I’ve tamed a huge old manuscript, complete with its own fictitious world and all.

I’ll never stop learning to get to the publishing promised-land. Whether it’s from other authors, publishing professionals, or anywhere, I won’t pass up an opportunity to learn something new.

I”m in editing mode. I’ve shed 11,000 words and 26 pages, with 60 pages left to edit. You know what? Editing isn’t so bad. I’m learning how to cut, and why those things need to be cut. My next manuscript should be much easier to write. I’m even looking forward to the next round of queries, now that I know what to do!